Liberal Democrats - Elderly shoulder burden of £56 million Tory cuts

1.45.00pm GMT Sat 28th Feb 2009

The number of day care sessions being accessed by elderly people has halved since the Conservative administration at Suffolk County Council brought in charges for day care in 2007 it has been revealed. The service, which had previously been free of charge, now costs £15 per day.

The figures on numbers attending day care were requested by the Council's Liberal Democrat group as part of their investigations into the effects of £56 million cuts to social care over the last 4 years.

Commenting on the figures Liberal Democrat group leader on the council, Kathy Pollard said, "This is devastating news for the welfare of our older people in Suffolk. We always suspected that the introduction of charges would stop many older people attending day care, but we didn't realise that they would have had such a catastrophic effect."

Olive Kistruck, 88, attends her local day centre at Angel Court Residential Home in Hadleigh. She commented "When I first started going to the day centre two years ago there were about a dozen people there every Tuesday. Now there are only six or seven. We couldn't understand what had happened." Mrs. Kistruck does not have to pay for day care, but still has to pay for transport and meals, which have increased under this Conservative administration.

Kathy Pollard added, "It is elderly and vulnerable people who are bearing the brunt of the new charges. The danger is that the substantial drop in attendance at day care centres will lead to more feelings of isolation for elderly people. Day care provides opportunities for wider social contact and gives carers some well earned time off. It seems that the Conservative cuts have had a pretty devastating effect on the elderly in Suffolk. For example whereas only 1 in 5 people had to pay for home care two years ago, now 4 out of 5 have to pay. This situation will only worsen with the number of people aged over 85 increasing by 11,000 in the next 15 years. How many of them will be able to afford to pay for day care under the current charging regime?"